Women in combat: 'A Marine is a Marine'

Feb. 21, 2013

Updated 1:17 p.m.

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With the Pentagon lifting the ban on women in combat, Marine Staff Sgt. Nanette Lugo is one of the first women to be incorporated into a combat unit at Camp Pendleton. She is part of the Marine's 3rd Assault Amphibian Battalion. She stands next to one of the unit's Amphibious Assault Vehicles. PAUL RODRIGUEZ, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

Having served as a Marine Security Guard, Staff Sgt. Nanette Lugo sees an easy transition into a combat role in her current unit, the 3rd Assault Amphibian Battalion at Camp Pendleton. PAUL RODRIGUEZ, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

A group of marines stand around and on their amphibious assault vehicle and watch an LCAC, or landing craft air cushion hovercraft, make a landing on the beach at Camp Pendleton in December. Marines held a full-scale amphibious beach assault as part of exercise Steel Knight. Staff Sgt. Nanette Lugo was part of the battalion and worked as the battalion's supply chief. SAM GANGWER, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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An LCAC, or landing craft air cushion hovercraft, carrying Marines and armored vehicles approaches the beach at Camp Pendleton during a full-scale amphibious assault exercise on the beach involving more than 3,000 marines. "Staff Sgt. Nanette Lugo performed admirably regardless of gender during exercise Steel Knight," said Lt. Col. Howard Hall. SAM GANGWER, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

With the Pentagon lifting the ban on women in combat, Marine Staff Sgt. Nanette Lugo is one of the first women to be incorporated into a combat unit at Camp Pendleton. She is part of the Marine's 3rd Assault Amphibian Battalion. She stands next to one of the unit's Amphibious Assault Vehicles.PAUL RODRIGUEZ, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

Though she knew little about the military, she knew the Marines' reputation and knew they had the toughest boot camp around. That was a challenge she couldn't pass up.

"I thought, 'I can do that,'" said Lugo, 31. "I told the recruiter 'I want to know what it's like.'" She spent the rest of her summer preparing for boot camp. The requirement of running 3 miles in 30 minutes was her greatest obstacle. But after training once a week, she passed muster.

Now 12 years later, she's still hard-charging. She's received awards and commendations in each of her assigned Military Occupational Specialties. Recently, she made the Marine Security Guard – an elite unit that protects state departments and the Foreign Service against counter-insurgency. She was trained to use an 870 Remington shotgun. On duty, she carried a 9 mm handgun at her side. She knew the ins and outs of hand-to-hand combat for close intruders. She was the only woman in a post of five to seven Marines.

In June, Lugo achieved another first: she became one of a handful of female Marines assigned to the 3rd Assault Amphibian Battalion with the 1st Marine Division. For more than 70 years only men served in the combat battalion. Lugo's assignment foreshadowed January's announcement by outgoing Defense Secretary Leon Panetta to lift the ban on women in combat roles. The policy, at the advice of the Defense Department, overturns a 1994 Pentagon rule preventing women from jobs in infantry, artillery, armor and other combat roles.

Women can now qualify for the military's most difficult positions. These jobs in the Marines and the Army could open by May. Senior commanders will have until January 2016 to ask for exceptions.

Over the last two decades, women were already near the frontlines in combat-serving support, said retired Marine Col. Charles Quilter, a 30-plus year fighter pilot and military historian from Laguna Beach.

The turning points for women in combat were missions in Iraq and Afghanistan where cultural sensitivities between Marines and Muslim women demanded their presence in combat patrols, he said. There they demonstrated heroism on battlefields that had no front lines. In operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm, women already served in combat service-support roles. In the 1990s, women aviators flew aircraft in combat service support positions.

Military commanders must weigh concerns that integration on the battlefield could be distracting. They will also consider whether women can physically handle heavy machinery or carry injured service member from the frontlines, Quilter said.

Some women have already served in combat-support positions such as Female Engagement Teams that served with infantry Marines in Afghanistan. In these teams, women's roles include supply clerk, mechanic and engineer from the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force. They were selected based on their abilities and then trained, said Marine Master Gunnery Sgt. Mark Oliva at Camp Pendleton.

These women had pre-deployment training including cultural awareness and combat marksmanship. They were selected for traits such as responsibility, mission focus and resourcefulness, he said.

Advocates also argue that women's inability to apply for combat jobs has cost them higher pay grades and promotion opportunities. They say lifting the ban will help change the culture of male domination in which women have complained about discrimination and a high incidence of sexual harassment.

Georgia Reyna, a retired master gunnery sergeant from the 1st Marine Logistics Group at Camp Pendleton in 2010, remembers the difficulties of serving in a "male-dominated institution."

"Marines who are grunts have opinions on what women should and shouldn't do," she said. "You had those who felt women should not be part of this environment. At one time, I was the only female in a fighter squadron. I always had to prove myself. I was told by my superior I was lucky to have checked in while he was on vacation. He said, 'There are no females in this unit.'"

Reyna, at 5-foot, 2-inches and 110 pounds, went through rigorous training. She remembers a 13-week elite training course at Quantico, Va. It was tailored for male Marines, she said. With that experience in mind, she questions if all women can handle the physical requirements of combat.

"It was very tough and you didn't want to be perceived as weak," she said. "You had to carry a 70-pound alice pack and hike through snow, rain and mud. We trained with different weapons and rolled in the dirt and the mud. It comes to the point if you ever drop your pack, someone else will pick it up. You never want that to happen."

Reyna said she sees pros and cons about women in combat.

"When someone is wounded, can you carry a body back as quickly as a man?" she said. "When you're in a fighting-hole situation, will there be conflict between males and females? Harassment; sexual activities, people get involved in that in that environment. I had a friend who was returned from a war zone due to her being caught up in sexual activity. I had another friend who was charged with being disrespectful to a senior officer when she didn't participate in sexual activities."

Retired Maj. Paul MacNeill, who served in the Gulf War in 1990, said it's imperative that combat-bound women pass the same physical training tests as men. But he thinks that wouldn't be difficult for many who are trained to the same standard.

"Has anyone addressed the issue of women as a prisoner of war?" the Mission Viejo man said. "What would that be like? We had a situation in training where a woman was captured in war games and was raped, that happened with our own forces. Can you imagine the Taliban or Iraqis getting hold of a woman?"

Lt. Col. Howard Hall, who commands Lugo and the 3rd Amphibian Assault Battalion, said he prepared his Marines for the five women joining last summer. Fifty percent of the battalion is deployed worldwide, including in Afghanistan. The battalion moves Marines from naval sea bases worldwide and provides all-weather surface assault to ground combat elements ship-to-shore using amphibian assault vehicles.

"A Marine is a Marine," Hall said. "The assignment has added critical capabilities."

He said Lugo, with her military guard experience, brings leadership and expertise that 90 percent of the Marines in the battalion don't have.

Lugo works for the battalion in supply and is responsible for both bolts and $2 million assault vehicles.

Hall already sees benefits in operational tempo and quality of work.

"Our skill to accomplish the mission has not changed and even improved," he said. "I can in no way guess what effect it will have (integrating women into combat battalions). Based on anecdotal evidence, it's a success story here."

Hall said the Military Leaderhip Diversity Commission will review data and research the effects of bringing women in. Then leaders will project jobs required, and positions will be filled based on an individual's ability and job vacancy. Each Marine is trained as a rifleman and every officer starts out as a basic-trained rifle platoon leader, he said.

"In Afghanistan you have your weapon at a moment's notice and you're ready to go," she said. "It doesn't matter if you're in a combat MOS (military occupational specialties, or specific military jobs) or not. Combat MOS should be just that. If someone chooses that job billet, they should be able to qualify for it. I support it as long as they don't lower the standard."

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